Tibetans living-in-exile cast their vote for the 16th Tibetan Parliamentary preliminary election at a polling station in Dharamsala, India, 18 October 2015. (Photo courtesy: globalnews.ca)

(TibetanReview.net, Mar19’16) – As exile Tibetan across the free world prepared to vote in their general election on Mar 20, China has on Mar 17 called on other countries not to provide facilities or venues for what it called anti-China activity by the Tibetans.

Asked during a regular press conference whether China was following the exile Tibetan leadership election and whether it had any favoured candidate, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang has begun by reiterating, “We never recognize this so-called government-in-exile”.

Lu wanted “all countries in this world, especially those that want to maintain friendly relations with China,” to “not provide facilities or venues for any anti-China, separatist activities by the so-called Tibet independence forces”.

Both the candidates standing for election as Sikyong, the executive head of the Central Tibetan Administration at Dharamshala, India, and the political leader of the Tibetan people, are in favour of talking with China to negotiate for an autonomous Tibet under Chinese rule. However, China, which imposed on the Tibetans in 1951 an agreement to “liberate” it and then brought it under direct occupation rule in 1959 after a Tibetan uprising, refuses to recognize the existence of any Tibetan issue to be resolved.